The FIA is to review how much Formula 1 teams must pay to lodge protests after Mercedes complained about Red Bull’s targeting of George Russell.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called on the FIA to discourage teams from making frivolous protests after Red Bull unsuccessfully attempted to trigger penalties for Russell three times in the space of four grands prix.
Teams must pay a deposit of €2,000 (£1,700) to submit a protest, which they lose if their complaint is not upheld. Wolff said the fee needs to be higher to discourage abuse of the system.
“Put in a fine that, at least if you lose it, is a little bit of an embarrassment that you lost so much money,” he said, “and you’re going to think twice whether you do it.”
A protest is one of three avenues available to teams to either challenge decisions made by the stewards or prompt them to examine incidents which may have been overlooked. A request for a review costs the same as a protest and an appeal costs €6,000 (£5,200).
Following a meeting of the Formula 1 Commission today the FIA confirmed it is reconsidering the cost of all three. “It was agreed that the deposit fees for protests, appeals and ‘right of reviews’ should be evaluated with a view to those fees being adjusted,” it said in a statement.
“The introduction of a fee for investigations was also discussed,” it added. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has previously called for this to be considered.
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Red Bull first lodged a protest against Russell at the Miami Grand Prix, claiming he failed to slow sufficiently for yellow flags. The team brought two more at the Canadian Grand Prix, alleging Russell fell more than 10 car lengths behind the Safety Car – a claim it later dropped – and braked excessively during a Safety Car period. All three incidents were highlighted on the radio by Max Verstappen.
While none of Red Bull’s protests against Russell were successful, Oscar Piastri was penalised for a similar Safety Car incident involving Verstappen at the British Grand Prix. That prompted Verstappen to question why Russell was not penalised in Montreal.
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